The Farmer's Lawyer
The North Dakota Nine and the Fight to Save the Family Farm
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ISBN10: 1635575265
ISBN13: 9781635575262
Hardcover
432 Pages
$29.99
CA$39.99
In the early 1980s, farmers were suffering through the worst economic crisis to hit rural America since the Great Depression. Land prices were down, operating costs and interest rates were up, and severe weather devastated crops. Instead of receiving assistance from the government as they had in the 1930s, these hardworking family farmers were threatened with foreclosure by the very agency that Franklin Delano Roosevelt created to help them.
Desperate, they called Sarah Vogel in North Dakota. Sarah, a young lawyer and single mother, listened to farmers who were on the verge of losing everything and, inspired by the politicians who had helped farmers in the '30s, she naively built a solo practice of clients who couldn't afford to pay her. Sarah began drowning in debt and soon her own home was facing foreclosure. In a David and Goliath legal battle reminiscent of A Civil Action or Erin Brockovich, Sarah brought a national class action lawsuit, which pitted her against the Reagan administration's Department of Justice, in her fight for family farmers' Constitutional rights. It was her first case.
A courageous American story about justice and holding the powerful to account, The Farmer's Lawyer shows how the farm economy we all depend on for our daily bread almost fell apart due to the willful neglect of those charged to protect it, and what we can learn from Sarah's battle as a similar calamity looms large on our horizon once again.
Reviews
Praise for The Farmer's Lawyer
“In farm country, [Sarah] Vogel has earned a reputation as 'a giant killer in ag law.'”—The Nation
“Sarah Vogel and I share an ornery persistence in the face of bullies. This is her real life story of fighting for farmers as they were pushed off the land by a plan, ordered and carried out by top officials of our government. Sarah's story, told in her unique voice, inspires me—and I'm sure it will inspire you—to fight for family farmers.”—Willie Nelson, Artist and Farm Aid President
“This is my kind of story—the young, inexperienced lawyer facing big odds. It's remarkably well told and heartfelt. I really enjoyed it.”—John Grisham
“Engaging, suspenseful, and often heartbreaking . . . This stirring account is a testimony to [Vogel's] continuing work as a strong advocate for America's farmers.”—Booklist
“The Farmer's Lawyer, both an exquisitely written American saga and a trove of lived research, might serve as the definitive document of the 1980s farm crisis that in some ways never ended. Sarah Vogel's heroic battle on behalf of family farmers was historic—and has never been more relevant.”—Sarah Smarsh, author of Heartland
“Sarah Vogel is a tireless advocate, and The Farmer's Lawyer is a powerful account about her never-ending pursuit of justice.”—Dan Barber, author of The Third Plate
“I'm a huge fan of Sarah and the work she's done to help family farmers.”—Stephanie Land, The New York Times bestselling author of Maid
“The most important book about the practical issues farmers face that I have ever read.”—Dr. Frederick L. Kirschenmann, Distinguished Fellow for the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture and President of the Board of Directors, Stone Barns
“The struggle for justice for farmers is as old as the American story. No one has written a braver or better chapter than Sarah Vogel. She recounts it here, with all the historical perspective, legal genius and righteous passion that made her the great champion of the women and men who work the land.”—John Nichols, author of The Fight for the Soul of the Democratic Party
“A fascinating political history about farming in America, a gripping personal story about one person battling a vast, unjust system, and a clear-eyed investigation of the discriminatory systems and policies that drove so many family farmers out of business.”—Megan Kimble, author of Unprocessed
“What a wonderful book! The Farmer's Lawyer is riveting. Its characters amount to a new pantheon of heroes-author Sarah Vogel as well as the white and Native American farmers whose dogged righteousness prevails and inspires. I am humbled, heartened, and moved.”—Elizabeth Fenn, Pulitzer Prize winning author of Encounters at the Heart of the World
“Vogel sets this appalling story of a politicized bureaucracy run amok against a rich portrait of North Dakota farm life and its political tradition of rural solidarity . . . Her travails as a single mom, falling hopelessly behind on her own bills, add a vivid subplot. The result is an engrossing legal saga and a rousing tribute to prairie populism.”—Publishers Weekly